§ 9-1-2. Definitions.

The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the following assigned meanings:

(1)

Amusements. Any entertainment or amusement or the operation or use of property for the provision of entertainment or amusement for compensation, including, but not limited to, arcades or buildings devoted to general amusement or entertaining, auditoriums, ball-throwing establishments, billiard parlors or poolrooms, bowling alleys, coliseums, dance bands, exhibition or performance, furnishing music for dancers, gardens, golf driving ranges, miniature golf establishments, miniature railroads, movie theaters, museums, parks or athletic fields, performers, renting or furnishing of horses or ponies, skating rinks, swimming pools or swimming clubs, tennis courts, theaters and "slot machines," as that term is defined in this chapter.

(2)

Base year. The calendar year preceding the license year.

(3)

Builder or developer. Any person engaged in the improvement or development, for sale or rent, of any real property owned by, leased by or otherwise controlled by the person. The term "builder or developer" includes persons performing the tasks of a contractor, as that term is defined in this chapter, but doing so on their own account.

(4)

Business. A course of dealing which requires the time, attention and labor of the person so engaged for the purpose of earning a livelihood or profit. The term "business" implies a continuous and regular course of dealing, rather than an irregular or isolated transaction. Whether a person is engaged in a business or simply is undertaking an irregular or isolated transaction is a factual determination to be made by the director. A person may be engaged in more than one business. The following acts shall create a rebuttable presumption that a person is engaged in a business: (i) advertising or otherwise holding oneself out to the public as being engaged in a particular business; or (ii) filing tax returns, schedules and documents that are required only of persons engaged in a business. The term "business" includes, but is not limited to, trades, professions, occupations, callings, vocations and similar activities and commerce.

(5)

Consultant. Any person accepting or offering to accept orders or contracts to provide professional services, financial services or repair, personal or business services. A consultant shall be taxed under this chapter in accordance with the licensable privilege in which he is engaged.

(6)

Contractor. Any person accepting or offering to accept orders or contracts for (i) doing any work on or in building or structure requiring the use of paint, stone, brick, mortar, cement, wood, wallpaper, structural iron or steel, sheet iron, galvanized iron, metallic piping, tin, lead or other metal or other building materials, (ii) doing electrical work on or in a building or structure, (iii) doing any paving or curbing on sidewalks or streets, public or private property, requiring the use of asphalt, brick, stone, cement, wood or any composition, (iv) excavating earth, rock or material for foundations or any other purpose, (v) cutting, trimming or maintaining rights of way, (vi) constructing any sewer of stone, brick, concrete, terra cotta or other material, (vii) caring for plots in cemeteries, (viii) rebuilding, remodeling, repairing, wrecking, razing or demolishing, or moving a building or structure, (ix) drilling, boring or digging a well, (x) installing, maintaining or repairing neon signs or heating or air conditioning equipment, or (xi) engaging in the business of plumbing and steam fitting. The term "contractor" shall also include any person doing any work on the subjects set forth in the preceding sentence under an employment agreement or arrangement, but the term shall not include persons who are employed directly by a contractor duly licensed as such. The term "contractor" shall not include any person deemed by the director to be a "consultant."

(7)

Definite place of business. A location, including an office, at which occurs a regular and continuous course of dealing for 30 consecutive days or more. A definite place of business for a person engaged in the business of renting real property, for the purposes of section 9-1-88 of this code, shall include, but is not limited to, real property leased to another. A person's residence shall be deemed to be a definite place of business if there is no definite place of business maintained elsewhere, and the person is not licensable as a peddler or itinerant merchant.

(8)

Direct seller. Any person who engages in the business of selling or soliciting the sale of consumer products primarily in private residences, who maintains no public location for the conduct of such business, who receives remuneration for such activities, with substantially all of such remuneration being directly related to sales or other sales-oriented services, rather than to the number of hours worked, and who performs such activities pursuant to a written contract between such person and the person for whom the activities are performed and such contract provides that such person will not be treated as an employee with respect to such activities for federal tax purposes.

(9)

Director. The director of the department of finance of the city and any duly authorized representative.

(10)

Financial services. Any services for compensation by a credit agency, by an investment company, by a broker or dealer in securities and commodities, or by a security or commodity exchange, as those terms are defined in the Code of Virginia (1950) and the securities and exchange laws of the United States, unless such services are otherwise provided for in this chapter. The term "financial services" includes, but is not limited to, the buying of installment receivables, chattel mortgage financing, consumer financing, credit card services, credit unions, factoring, financing of accounts receivable, installment financing, inventory financing and working capital financing. Those engaged in the rendering of financial services include, without limitation, industrial loan companies, loan or mortgage brokers, loan or mortgage companies, safety deposit box companies and securities and commodities brokers or dealers.

(11)

Gross receipts. The whole, entire, total receipts attributable to the licensed privilege, without deduction, except as may be limited by other provisions of this chapter or by provisions of the Code of Virginia (1950).

(12)

License year. The calendar year for which a license is issued for the privilege of engaging in a business.

(13)

Local resident. Any person having a place of abode in the city, irrespective of the intention of any person to return to some other residence outside of the city at some future time.

(14)

Operator. Any person selling, leasing, renting or otherwise furnishing or providing a coin-operated machine or device operated on the coin-in-the-slot principal; provided, that this term shall not include a person owning fewer than three coin-operated machines and operating such machines on property owned or leased by such person.

(15)

Person. Any individual, firm, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, company, association or joint stock association. The term shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative thereof carrying on or continuing a business, but shall not include a trustee, receiver or personal representative duly appointed by a court to liquidate assets for immediate distribution, or a sheriff or deputy sheriff, selling under authority of process or writ of a court or justice.

(16)

Professional services. Any service rendered by a person professing knowledge of some area or department of science or learning, gained by a prolonged course of specialized instruction and study. The term implies attainments in professional knowledge, as distinguished from a skill or a trade. Professional services include, but are not limited to, those services rendered by accountants, architects, dentists, engineers, land surveyors, lawyers, practitioners of any healing arts, surgeons and veterinarians.

(17)

Purchases. All goods, wares and merchandise received for sale at a definite place of business during the calendar year preceding the license year for which a license is applied, and all goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by a wholesale merchant and sold or offered for sale in this state as merchandise; provided, that this term shall not apply to manufacturers taxed on capital by the Commonwealth of Virginia, who offer for sale at wholesale, at the place of manufacture, goods, wares and merchandise manufactured by them.

(18)

Repair, personal and business services. Any service rendered for compensation not specifically classified as a financial, professional or real estate service pursuant to this chapter and not rendered in connection with any other business specifically classified pursuant to this chapter.

(19)

Research and development. A two-stage procedure focusing on new products or processes or improvements to existing products or processes, and entailing (i) a systematic study or search directed toward new scientific knowledge or new understanding of a particular subject and (ii) the gradual transformation of the new knowledge or new understanding garnered from the research stage into a tangible product or process.

(20)

Retail merchant. A person who sells goods, wares or merchandise to others at retail only, i.e., not for resale and not at wholesale to institutional, commercial, or industrial users.

The term "retail merchant" shall include, but is not limited to, filling stations, restaurants, operators of vending machines and persons engaged in the short-term rental business, as defined in section 58.1-3510 of the Code of Virginia (1950). The term shall also include direct sellers who sell goods, wares and merchandise at retail only and not for resale, and manufacturers, mills and processors selling at retail the goods manufactured or produced.

(21)

Slot machine. A coin-operated amusement-type machine or device operated on the coin-in-the-slot principle, including musical machines and musical devices operated by the insertion of coins or tokens.

(22)

Vending machine. A machine or device that sells goods, wares or merchandise or provides services and that is operated by the insertion of coins or tokens or is operated on the coin-in-the-slot principle. The term "vending machine" shall not include machines used solely for the purpose of selling individual sanitary drinking cups or sanitary drinking cups and natural water, or machines vending sanitary napkins, which machines shall not be subject to tax pursuant to this chapter.

(23)

Wholesale merchant. A person who sells goods, wares or merchandise to others for resale only and every person who sells to institutional, commercial or industrial users. The term "wholesale merchant" shall include, but not be limited to, direct sellers who sell to others for resale. (Ord. No. 3542, 11/16/91, Sec. 1; Ord. No. 3834, 11/18/95, Sec. 2)